Outlander season 3 episode 12 ratings show’s best since November 5
Sunday night’s new episode “The Bakra” continued along the recent trend of rising ratings, giving the show 1.51 million live+same-day viewers in total. This marks the best ratings for the series since the November 5 episode “First Wife,” which were in turn the second-best of the season so far. This total of 1.51 million is perfectly in line with the show’s season 3 overall average, and it also matches our expectations detailed over the weekend in our ratings preview piece.
So what do these ratings mean in terms of the upcoming season 3 finale? Well, they give Outlander a better chance of potentially beating or matching the previous series record of 1.72 million for “A. Malcolm.” While there is certainly no guarantee that this will happen the show’s got a chance of pulling it off now. Ratings tend to rise for finales of just about every show, and with this show in particular big episodes seem to get a bump from the casual-viewer crowd who often puts the show on the DVR for later in the week. Knowing that there are no more episodes between the finale and season 4 in fall 2018 (if we’re lucky) is a pretty good incentive to want to check the show out live on Starz. You don’t want anyone to spoil the episode for you, and even book readers are learning that there are some changes that make the show a little bit different from the source material.
The one issue in making ratings predictions this time of year (we’ll probably touch more on this over the weekend) is that there are so many holiday distractions for people that take them away from their regularly scheduled programming.
Where the renewal stands
For now, remember that Outlander already has a season 4, and these ratings should help Starz determine whether or not they want to make a season 5 renewal official. We’ve heard that there are discussions on that subject, but there’s a pretty clear difference between discussions and reality. We do think that it will happen by the late winter / early spring at the earliest — remember that Outlander is generating on average more than 5 million viewers a week, and we may learn with advanced metrics later this year that the viewership is actually larger than that.
In terms of a season 5, there is currently nothing to worry about. Tough as it is, remember that patience is key.
What do you think about the Outlander season 3 episode 12 ratings as a whole? Be sure to share now in the attached comments!
Be sure to head over here if you want to see a further preview for the finale; also, like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want additional news/insight on Outlander plus some other shows we cover. (Photo: Starz.)
Susan Gragorace
December 6, 2017 @ 6:10 pm
Totally agree with more episodes, but understand they are already jammed packed. Don’t want to lose quality! I love Outlander!❤
Becky
December 5, 2017 @ 7:56 pm
On a separate note.
Our boy Sam Heughan needs our help voting for him to win well deserved CarterMatt award. He is slowly loosing ground there.
Here is the link: https://cartermatt.com/278669/cartermatt-awards-2017-lee-pace-sam-heughan-alex-oloughlin-aidan-turner-top-actor/
You can vote as many times as you like. Just a fun!
kmc
December 5, 2017 @ 7:06 pm
I agree. With more episodes, more of the original book material could have been used. That would have helped some of the non-book readers reactions to events or characters that didn’t have a ring of truth. Season 1, with 16 episodes seemed a good fit for the adaptation of the first book. With the Frasers setting up a life in America, and no longer vagabonds, I hope we get more episodes as the series continues after season 4.
Becky
December 5, 2017 @ 5:10 pm
You’ve been pretty spot on with your ratings prediction for this episode again.
I can’t believe it is the finale next week ?
Am I the only one who thinks this season would benefit with a few more extra episodes. It feels there is so much source material out there and certain parts could be easily extended.
Verla Simmons Piercy
December 6, 2017 @ 6:08 pm
it has gone way too fast and the shows seem short to me this year. I havent’ liked it as much as the others. But I am remaining a loyal fan. I would definetly think we need more shows THIS season. When are the next ones going to start?